Sooner women returning to where it all began

By Clay Horning

Back in the dark ages when the NCAA still all but decided who would reach the Sweet 16 by awarding campus sites the first two rounds of the women’s tournament — eight years ago — the Oklahoma women shocked the women’s game.

It was a smaller game.

Even on the night of March 25, 2000, when reigning national champion Purdue met the upstart Sooners, even on the Boilermakers’ very own court inside Mackey Arena, attendance topped out at 5,680.

But it wasn’t that bad.

It was still 1,415 more fans than showed for OU’s last home game that season, a 77-68 Bedlam victory over Dick Halterman’s Cowgirls.

Yet even if nobody had been there, OU coach Sherri Coale would feel the same way.

“(I have) such sweet memories of West Lafayette,” she said. “You know, sometimes there’s just some serendipity involved.”

The news came Monday, when OU learned it would open NCAA Tournament play against Illinois State at 11 a.m. Sunday back at Mackey Arena, where the Sooners women and a former high school coach hit the big time for the first time.

It was Coale’s fourth season since leaving Norman High and her first trip to the NCAA Tournament.

OU had to score 54 second-half points to erase a one-point halftime deficit and beat Brigham Young 86-81 just to play the national champion Boilermakers. And trailing 44-32 at the half, the Sooners had to come back all over again.

That comeback still feels like yesterday to Coale.

“Everybody scored,” she said. “Everybody took a turn making the big play, getting the rebound, diving on the floor for the loose ball.”

Indeed, juxtaposed against the Sooners’ most recent fortunes — three straight losses including a first-round bounce from the Big 12 tournament at the hands of 20-loss Missouri — it may have been everything the Sooners might hope to do to emerge from their longstanding funk.

LaNeishea Caufield finished with 23 points, Stacey Dales added 16, six rebounds and four assists. Phylesha Whaley, the Big 12 player of the year, added 11 points and eight rebounds. Caton Hill, then a freshman, added 11 points and seven rebounds Even Jadrea Seeley, the last girl off the bench, added nine points in 17 minutes.

After the half, the Sooners came in waves.

“Oklahoma came out and played with a lot of composure. They never got rattled,” said Purdue’s Camille Cooper, who led everybody with 34 points. “It was hard to watch those final few minutes. You have to credit them with playing hard and with a lot of composure.”

The Sooners won despite trailing by 12 at the half, by 17 when the deficit grew largest and by 13 with 11:05 to play. They came two buckets short of hitting 50 percent (28 of 60) of their shots. They committed just 13 turnovers, only four of which weren’t credited as Purdue steals.

Just after the game, Whaley explained the night and her Sooner experience with a quote that stands up over time.

“We kept playing because we had nothing to lose. You play hard or go home,” she said. “I’m just proud to have been a part of building this program.”

It was Whaley’s next to last game. Five days later eventual national champion Connecticut ended OU’s season 102-80 in Richmond, Va.

Two yeas later, Connecticut won the national championship again, topping the Dales -, Caufield- and Hill-led Sooners 82-70 in the title game.

The Sooners were a five-seed eight years ago and a four-seed now. Then, they advanced on the strength of several strong performances. They’ll try doing the same thing again beginning Sunday.

“It was truly a team effort. We really willed it,” Coale said. “And to be able to go back to that same spot, and to kind of be engulfed by those memories is a pretty special thing.”

It will remain special just as long as OU can repeat its history, returning home after a pair of victories with another game to play.

Clay Horning

366-3526

cfhorning@normantranscript.com